


Heart It Races

by Popcorners



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - After College/University, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - High School, F/M, Modern AU, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-22
Updated: 2020-07-02
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:08:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 18,760
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23784430
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Popcorners/pseuds/Popcorners
Summary: A year for Jon as Arya dates Ned Dayne.
Relationships: Edric “Ned” Dayne/Arya Stark (briefly), Gendry Waters/Arya Stark (briefly), Jaqen H’ghar/Arya Stark (Briefly), Jon Snow/Arya Stark, Jon Snow/Daenerys Targaryen (Briefly), Jon Snow/Ygritte (Briefly), Jonrya (endgame)
Comments: 30
Kudos: 143





	1. Ned Dayne

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A year for Jon as Arya dates Ned Dayne.

September

He was surprised to see her so nervous. She was usually so self assured in all her movements and actions. Cutting her hair into a stylish bob after she got tired of Theon pulling on her ponytail. Deciding to play peewee football instead of taking dance with Sansa. Fencing. Everything she did, she did with such confidence and it awed him. But here she was nervously pacing the living room while Sansa and Catelyn followed trying to put the finishing touches on her hair and apply lipstick.

“I don’t know why you’re bothering Sans, I’m going to take it off as soon as I have a chance.”  
“Well, before you get to do that, Edric, will have a chance to see this red on you, now stand still so I don’t smudge.” 

Arya did as she was told with a giant eyeroll that would normally bring a smile to Jons face but this time it didn’t.

Ned picked her up promptly at 7:30. He did the polite family meeting before Arya shuffled them out of the house and onto their date. And Jon was left with the rest of the Starks, trying to figure out a world in which Arya was grown up and dating.

* * *

November

She missed curfew the weekend before. So she was grounded this Saturday. Ned wasn’t allowed to come over and she was moping in her room, undoubtedly texting him anyway.

“Hey come on.” Robb threw his jacket on the bed and stood in front of the tv, blocking his view, “We’re going to Glovers party.”  
“Nah, I don’t feel like it.” Jon tried to maneuver his head to see the screen, his character probably dying on the game he was playing.

“I don’t care if you don’t feel like it, you’re coming with. Dacey doesn’t want to leave Ygritte all by herself tonight so I said I’d bring you along to keep her company.”  
“Why don’t you bring Theon?”  
“He’s going with Ros. So quit your bullshit and come on.”

“Where you guys going?” Arya caught up with them as they were leaving the house.

“Glovers party,” Robb responded.

“Aww man, I was supposed to go to that with Ned, have fun.” Arya skipped past them and out the back door.

Robb turned down the dark road to Gloves house. “So which one of us is stay sober tonight?,” he asked.

“You can. You dragged me to this party you can drive us back.”

“Seriously. Without me you’d be stuck in your room mopping all night. I’m doing you a favor, the least you could do is do me this favor.”

“No. You can—“  
“I’ll drive.”

Aryas voiced popped up from the backseat and Robb swerved the car, startled by her sudden appearance.

“Fuck—Arya. What the fuck are you doing here?”

“Neds meeting me at the party.”  
“I thought you were grounded,” Jon stated.

“Wait you’re grounded?” Robb chimed in, clueless as ever.

“Well my gloomy Gus of a cousin had to spoil the fun. Yes I am grounded but mom popped an ambien and dad is in his office, working. They wont notice I’m gone.”

Robb sighed and Jon smirked. Neither of them could say no to Arya.  
“Fine. But no drinking.”

“I wont. I’m driving us home remember?”

“You don’t even know how to drive.” Jon laughed and ruffled her hair.

“It’s an easy drive, I can manage.”

Arya ran straight to Neds waiting arms as soon as the car stopped and they disappeared into the party.

“Jon, you know Ygritte right?” Robb introduced her. She was pretty. Loud. Brash. Just like Arya. He grabbed a cup and filled it from the keg on the porch. Tonight was going to be a long night.

* * *

February

He planned something for him and Ygritte. A hike in the wolfswoods followed by a picnic near the hot spring. He liked that she didn’t want or care for a bigger, more traditional Valentines date. He was closing his locker, spotting Ned and Arya walking down the hall. His arm around her shoulders. She was talking animatedly, like she always does, while he looked down at his phone. Letting her guide him through the halls.

They kissed goodbye as she dipped into her art class and Ned instead of carrying on, came directly to him.

“Hey Jon, I have a question for you.”

“Whats up Dayne?” Jon turned and walked towards his next class.

“It’s Arya.” Ned said as he joined Jon, “I keep suggesting things to do for Valentine’s Day but she keeps shooting them down.”

Jon stopped at Ygritte’s locker and waited for her to grab her math textbook.  
“Hey Dayne, why the long face?”  
“Arya doesn’t want to do any of the things I’m suggesting for Valentine’s Day. I was hoping Jon could help me figure out what to do.”  
“What have you got?” Ygritte said. Jon was glad she was taking the lead on talking to Dayne. He didn’t want to plan his dates with Arya for him. 

“Dinner at that new Dornish restaurant. Then ice skating. She said no to dinner. Then she said no to dinner at my house. I asked what kind of flowers to get her and she said she didn’t want any. She doesn’t wear jewelry because it gets in the way when she fences, whatever that means. I seriously don’t know what to get her.”

“Ice skating is good but Arya isn’t going to want to eat anywhere too fancy, right Jon?”

“Yeah, anything shes going to have to get dressed up for should be a no go.”

“But she dresses up so well.”  
“Yeah but she doesn’t like it.” Jon snapped. Thankfully they were at his and Ygrittes math class and he went in without saying goodbye to Dayne. Ygritte kept talking to him outside of the classroom. He saw her pat his shoulder and then come in.

“You didn’t have to bite the poor kids head off.”  
“Sorry, but you think he’d know Arya by now. They’ve been dating for how long? What did you tell him anyway?”  
“I told him no flowers or jewelry. They’re not a 50 year old couple. And then I told him to let her plan something. She’d like that a hell of a lot better than what he had in mind.”

* * *

May

Ned invited Ayra to his junior prom. The entire household had to deal with Sansa begin upset that her sister was going to be at her junior prom and how it wasn’t fair.

“She’s only a freshman mom! She cant go.”

“A freshman can go if a junior invites them.”

“But its not fair.”  
“You’re just mad that you didn’t get asked when you were a freshman.”

“Arya stop antagonizing your sister.”  
“She started it.”  
  


Catelyn was able to talk Sansa down from the ledge after Arya promised to not bother Sansa at the party and that they wouldn’t have to share a ride to get there.

It was like her first date with Ned all over again. She was a nervous ball of energy the entire day and Sansa was not helping matters.

“Arya, if you don’t sit still, its going to look wonky in the back.”  
“Arya don’t sit in your dress, its going to be wrinkled before Ned sees.”  
“Stop eating Arya, you’re gonna smudge your lipstick.”  
  
“Sansa chill the fuck out.” Robb finally yelled at her and for that Jon was grateful.

“Language Robert!” Catelyn yelled from the kitchen.

He liked the dress she was wearing. One of Sansa’s old black ones that Catelyn hemmed. She paired it with black doc martens which Sansa hated. Jon thought she looked perfect and even better she could kick Ned’s ass if he tried something.

“Ready for ours next week?” Robb asked him, “Dacey has not stopped talking about her dress. I hope Ygritte is better than that.”

“Yeah, Ygritte doesn’t really care if we match, she only told me not to bother with a corsage.”  
“Lucky guy.”

Catelyn insisted on a million pictures and Jon wanted to step away but found himself waiting to step in if Arya needed it. Aryas smile started off genuine but as they progressed it began to falter. Not to mention he caught her moving Neds wandering hand from her backside back to her waist. 

“He does that one more time, I’m going to break his arm.” Robb said from beside him, pointing at Ned.

“I think Arya has that handled.” They both chuckled when Arya stomped her foot onto Neds and they saw him wince in pain.

Jon took out his phone and shot her a quick text. _Let me know if you need us to kick his ass tonight._

Arya checked her phone and smiled at him. _Will do._


	2. Ned Dayne Pt. 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Arya balances prioritizing a relationship with Ned and her relationship with Jon.

August

Jon and Robb were leaving for college and Arya was inconsolable. She didn’t want to stay in the house without her big brother and she especially didn’t want to live in world where she didn’t see Jon everyday. At first she hated when Jon started dating Ygritte but what right did she have to be jealous when she was dating Edric.

_Edric_. Just his name made her crazy. She liked him well enough but this past summer they decided to take a break. Well Edric decided he wanted to take a break.

“You’ll be in Bravos, I’m spending time with my family in Dorne. If you met someone or I met someone, it would be much better that we were apart instead of cheating on each other.”

“I guess your right”

But their time apart helped her to see that she didn’t really care for Edric as much as she thought she did.

For one he was very pretentious. Often times she thought he cared more about her being a Stark than about her as an individual. He always wanted to take her to the very best restaurant when she would rather just have a hotdog. He was all around a nice guy but more preoccupied with the optics.

He was pretty. She thought he was cute but it was hard to be plain Arya next to his pretty looks. The girls in school kept reminder her of that.

He was also pushy. He said he didn’t mind waiting for her to be ready to take it to the next level but when she told him to slow down he did so reluctantly. And not that he would ever tell her he was tired of waiting to her face; she just always feels like she let him down because she didn’t want to have sex yet.

She was hanging out with Jon more than Robb on their last week of being home.

“You’re only going a scant 2 hours away so there is no excuse for not visiting a lot.”

“I doubt Catelyn would like me to visit all that often.”

She knew Jon was right. Her mother didn’t like Jon all that much. She was making him move out of his room while he was away at college, saying it was so Rickon and Bran could have their own rooms, even though Robb was keeping his own room and was moving further away for his college. But if Arya bought up how unfair their mom was to Jon, she would get in trouble for it.

“Besides,” Jon continued, “you’ll be busy with school. Your dad says your starting PSAT prep this year and you’re captain of the fencing team. And you have Edric, you’ll be so busy this year, you wont even notice I’m gone.”  
“Yeah..”  
“What? Whats going on? Everything okay with you and Edric?”  
“Yeah, were fine. Just taking a break for the summer you know?”

“A break? Whose idea was that?”  
“Edric’s—“ she trailed off but knew that would sound bad to Jon, so she quickly added “and mine” in an attempt to cover.

“Huh?”  
“What?”

“Nothing, nothing, just, uh—why don’t you bother Robb for a while, he’s leaving too and is going all the way to Kings Landing.”

Arya bounced out the room but instead of going to hang out with Robb for a while she went to her room and collapsed on her bed. She hated lying to Jon but she didn’t want him to worry about her relationship with Edric. She could handle that on her own.

* * *

November

Thanksgiving. Arya was anxious to see her brother but more importantly Jon again. They texted all the time so she was glad to be able to still have Jon in her life. Not to mention she got close to Ygritte. She didn’t know why she wanted to hate her and if Ygritte was a horrible person, it would have been easier to hate the girl Jon was dating but she was actually a cool person. And she liked that she could talk to her about stuff she couldn’t talk to Sansa about. Mainly what to do about Edric.

As he kept telling her, he was the only senior that was still a virgin.

“And I will gladly wait for you Arya, I just need to know that we have a future together.”  
Arya was conflicted. She wasn’t ready to have sex with Edric but she didn’t want the two of them to break up. He was extra sweet to her when they started classes up again and they had a lot of fun at the homecoming dance that October. But anytime they were alone, she felt like he was pressuring her to have sex. If she could keep the public Edric and get rid of the guy he became when it was just the two of them, she would.

Jon was the only person she hung out with during thanksgiving break. She missed him being around, teasing each other and she wanted to ask him what to do about Edric. But she knew what he would say. He would be the protective older cousin who would tell her to break up with him before going to kick Edric’s ass; but she wanted him to be her friend and tell her that if shes not ready that was okay. Or maybe she was ready but Edric wasn’t the guy for her. But that put a thought in her mind that she didn’t like to think about. Because thinking about the guy for her meant thinking of people she shouldn’t be thinking about.

On his last day home they played Mario Kart.

“Just no cheating this time.” Jon tried to exact the promise from her.

“I don’t cheat.”  
“What do you call it then?”  
“Defensive driving.”

Jon kicked her ass for most games until Arya started playing dirty, throwing herself on Jons lap so he couldn’t race, knocking the controller out of his hand and at one point putting her hoodie over his face so he couldn’t see the tv. But as her energy waned, Jon tried to have a serious conversation with her.

“You know,” Jon started. She could tell he didn’t want to have this conversation, “if you’re feeling pressure—“  
“Pressure?”  
“Yeah, Ygritte told me what you guys talked about,” Arya immediately paused the game, “hey, I know you don’t want to hear this from me, but you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do.”

“I cant believe she told you.”  
“Please don’t be mad at her, I saw you called her and got it out of her.”

“I just—its not just Edric, it’s the girls from the fencing team too, you know.”  
“I know and the guys on the baseball team were the same, but if anyone can make their own decisions without input from others, its you.”

“Thanks Jon.”

“Anytime.” He unpaused the game. Arya barely paid attention to it and lost. She was awed that he could assuage her fears and she was certain now what she would do with Edric.

* * *

February

Ned planned their valentines date this year. She started calling him Ned after a phone call with Jon. “Stop calling him Ned, its weird to call my boyfriend by Dads name.”

“But he’s such a Ned. Your dad is Ned” he made his voice deeper, gave it gravitas, “but your Ned is such a Ned” there he made his voice weaker.

He took her to a fancy restaurant. She was forced to wear a dress. Not that she hated them, she just hated when a cold draft would blow up her skirts. And Sansa did her makeup. Another thing she hated. Sansa even insisted on putting fake eyelashes on her.

The dinner was delicious, she had to admit that but Ned kept holding her hand as she tried to eat and she found that annoying. Afterwards he took her back to his fathers house and Arya knew what he wanted.

“Where’s your dad?”  
“He’s working late, so its just the two of us. I can get you something to drink, he doesn’t lock his liquor cabinet, if you wanted to get into that.” Ned came up behind her and kissed the back of her neck.

“Take me home.”  
“Come off it Arya. We’ve been dating for almost two years. You know how embarrassing it is to be a senior and a virgin.”  
“I don’t care Ned, take me home.”  
“Gods Arya, the guys on the team are right, you’re hot but you’re such a prude.”

“Okay, I think we’re done.”

“What?”  
She broke up with him that night and called her father to pick her up. Her finger hovered over Jon’s name in her phone. She wanted to call him. She wanted to talk about it with Jon. But she had seen what Ygritte had posted on her instagram. They were on what looks like a fun date and as much as she wanted to talk to Jon, she didn’t want to interrupt their date.

* * *

May

Their breakup didn’t affect her in school for which she was grateful. Ned was popular. According to all the girls in her grade, he was “the hottest guy on the soccer team and you’re so lucky to be dating him.” She expected backlash from his fan club but when the guys on his team found out they broke up, they rightly assumed Arya did the dumping and she was hailed a hero for “putting that pretty boy in his place.”

She didn’t tell Jon about their breakup though. In fact, she stopped calling him altogether. She didn’t want to bother him. She assumed he must have felt the same way because he stopped calling her too. He was busy in his first year of college and according to Ygrittes instagram, he joined a wilderness club. She decided to leave him alone and to handle her emotions without his help. He was spending the summer working at a camp for underprivileged kids past the Wall.

She was spending the summer back at her fencing camp in Bravos. Syrio, the director of the camp is even having her train some of the younger students. If this worked out, she could be a counselor the following summer.

One of the upsides of breaking up with Ned, besides breaking up with Ned, was Sansa was nicer to her. They didn’t tell each other everything now, but they got on better. Sansa even bought her a lot of ice cream to help sooth what heartache she thought Arya had. She was looking forward to her junior year of high school even if she didn’t have Jon to ask for advice but he was right when he said she could handle herself. And she was going to prove to him that she could handle her own problems.

* * *

August

She was back home after a crazy short month and a half in the sweltering heat of Bravos. Her first class as a trainer did well. They all improved remarkably. She had a fun, summer fling with a senior counselor named Griff. He was a perfect gentleman and the polar opposite of Ned. 

It had been hard coming back from Bravos and with what happened to her family she didn’t want to leave. It was easier to stay in the feeling of perpetual summer, where nothing bad happened. But that was unrealistic, she knew that.

Jon cut his counselor job short to be with the family. She hated how sunny it was when they buried her dad. It was a sad day, the weather should reflect that. And the therapist her mother insisted on kept trying to get her to focus on the good. What good was there when her dad wasn’t alive anymore. She was getting angry all the time and no amount of therapy could help her out of it. She was angry that Jon wasn’t talking to her anymore. She was angry that her mom was kicking him out as soon as possible. He wasn’t really family, she heard her mom say over the phone, and she only “put up with him because of Ned.”

Mostly she was angry at herself for not being able to look Bran in the eye anymore. Seeing him in the wheelchair was too painful. He’d never be able to play soccer again, and he loved soccer.

She was angry at herself for not talking to Jon. He had to find out about her breakup and subsequent fling with Griff from Sansa and he wasn’t even angry about it. It would have been better if they argued but he kept treating her with kid gloves. As if she was going to breakdown at the drop of a hat, like Sansa was doing.

“Hey kid, I’m getting out of here tomorrow.” He said from her doorway. She was laying on her bed, staring at the ceiling, trying to muster energy for anything. She didn’t respond but she felt her bed dip from his weight. “Listen, I know you and I haven’t really talked lately but I’m here for you. I’ll always be here for you.”

The weight shifted on her bed. He was leaving. “No you wont.”

“Won’t what?”

“Be here—for me. You haven’t called or texted. I have to find out what’s going on with you from facebook and Instagram. You’re going back to college and it’ll be more of the same.”  
“It’s a two way street, Arya. I had to find everything out about you from Sansa. You could have told me about Ned.” His voice sounded sad and she felt bad for making Jon feel sad.

“I didn’t want to bother you. I can take care of myself.” She fought to keep her voice even, if she cracked the floodgates would open and she didn’t want anyone to see that.

“But you don’t have to, Ar. You’re my best friend, you can tell me anything, okay. I’m never too busy for you.”

“Promise?”

“Promise. I’m only 2 hours away remember. If you need anything, I’ll be here for you.”


	3. Gendry pt. 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jon learns about Arya’s new friend Gendry.

October

Sophomore year was busy. Jon choose a busy major and was finding it difficult to keep up with the workload. His advisor Jeor Mormont suggested that if Jon wanted to be a lawyer then he’d have to make himself a competitive law school candidate early on. So Jon was taking a full course load and started volunteering with the local law clinic on Joer’s recommendation.

Ygritte understood his schedule and didn’t seem angry when he couldn’t spend as much time with her.

He kept his promise to Arya though and called her once a week. On his walk to the library every Sunday, they’d have their chats.

She was doing great her junior year of high school. Her fencing team was the best, regionally, and Arya was training hard for nationals. And most importantly, it seemed like she was doing great since her fathers passings.

“Apparently the Olympic committee sometimes show up to Nationals. So who knows, you might be talking to a future Olympian. I’ve been making Gendry call me that.”

“Gendry? Who’s he?”

“Have I not told you about him? You would love him, you’re practically the same person, which is why I hang out with him at all.”

“So he’s your new friend?”

“Yeah, he’s Uncle Roberts kid. He lived with his mom in King’s Landing but she died over the summer so Robert took him in. He transferred to school this year.”

“Oh, that’s cool. How old is he?”

“He’s a senior but he’s your age. His mom was sick for a while so he missed a lot of school. He’s nice. He’s been helping me a lot—you know, since dad—“

“Yeah that’s good, hey kid, listen I gotta study some more, I have a test coming up soon. Talk to you soon.”

“Bye, good luck on your test.”

Jon could barely concentrate on his work since Arya told him about Gendry. He found himself stalking Aryas social media for any hint of this Gendry guy. She didn’t post much to begin with, mainly arty shots of her fencing equipment and a few photos of her in action. But Gendry tagged her in a lot of photos. Silly photos of her holding up two donuts to her eyes; her feet propped up on the dash of, he guessed, Gendry’s car; and one that stopped his heart, Arya and Gendry dressed as Bugs and Lola Bunny for Halloween.

From what Jon could tell, Gendry seemed like a decent fellow, albeit too old for Arya. But so was he. He stopped looking at Gendrys instagram and hunkered down to finish studying. Throwing the thought of him and Arya out of his mind. He and Ygritte were going to her friend Tormunds Halloween party next weekend. Ygritte chose their costumes after a legendary Wildling couple, the commander of the Night Watch and the Wildling Woman he fell in love with.

* * *

December

This was the first time all semester Jon was going to be back in Winterfell. Ygrittes family moved back north of the wall and he spent thanksgiving with them. Arya was disappointed but she understood.

He and Ygritte has decided to put their relationship on pause for the following semester. His workload wasn’t going to ease up and she was going to study abroad in the spring. He had given her her present before they parted ways for the foreseeable future, a necklace with an arrow charm. She was always going to be his wildling, even when they broke up.

He made good time back home and beat Catelyn back to the house. After dropping his bag off in Robbs room, he made his way to the kitchen but paused when he heard some giggles coming from the basement.

“Hey, anyone here?” He was halfway down the stairs.  
“Shh—Jon?” He heard scampering and then saw Arya pop up at the bottom of the stairs, she went in for a hug, “what are you doing here? I thought you were going to show up tomorrow.”

“Finished everything up early, no point in staying there. Whats going on?” He saw a burly, dark haired—boy was wrong. He looked nothing like a boy, he was about as old as Jon and next to Arya, he might as well be forty.

“Gendry and I were playing Mario Kart. Jon, this is Gendry; Gendry, Jon.”

They shook hands and Jon could have sworn Gendry was trying to crush his.

“I gotta go. Renly’s boyfriends birthday is coming up soon and I promised him I’d help him get it all ready. See you Arry, nice meeting you, Jon.”

“Shouldn’t you be in school?” Jon asked after Gendry left.

“Got out early. That’s what happens when you’re the genius of the family.”

“Gendry seems nice.”  
“Stop—“  
“What?”

“You sound like mom. She said the same thing.”  
“I’m just saying he seems nice. Just, a bit old.”

“He’s the same age as you.”

“Yeah, I’m old too.”

“True but in a couple of years, shit like that doesn’t matter. Dad was a couple years older than mom.”

Jon made himself a sandwich while they spoke. And retreated to the room he shared with Robb while they were home. He thought of Arya dating Gendry. And didn’t like it one bit. The guy was too big and if his crushing grip was any indication of how he reacts to someone Arya is related too—he cant imagine Gendry would be happy with any of Arya’s more unconventional friends.

* * *

January

New Years Eve. Jon and Robb swiped a couple of bottles of champagne while Catelyn’s back was turned. They shared it with Sansa and Arya near the fire pit, while they waited for the ball to drop. Catelyn offered them—her actual kids—the opportunity of inviting a few friends over for the small party she was throwing, but they all declined. They wanted to spend time together, remembering Ned and wishing he was with them for this holiday season. Or at least that was what Jon and Arya were doing. Robb finished a bottle of champagne and grabbed a taxi to meet Dacey and a few other high school friends for a party. Sansa was slowly getting drunker and drunker and would probably be sleeping soon.

Jon was leaving for school in a week. He enjoyed spending winter break with Arya and Robb. They went hiking in the Wolfswoods and Jon drove them up to see off the top of the Wall. It was the first thing he did when he arrived at school and it was all Arya could talk about when he told her, so as part of her present, he drove them up to see it.

“Looks like Sansa is done for the night.” Arya grabbed the half empty bottle out of her sisters hands and made sure the blanket was wrapped tight around her.

“I don’t want you to go.” She said after a few moments of silence, “its been so much fun with you here.”

“Spring break is just around the corner, you could come up to see me, my couch is very comfortable.”

“Maybe, it’ll be nice to see Ygritte again.”

“About that—“

“—No” she wailed, “what did you do?”  
“Nothing. We’ve both been busy this year, plus she’s studying abroad next semester. We left friendly though, you can still text her if you want. It’s not like we’re dead to her now.”  
“Good, I liked her. I’ll still come visit you if I can though. Tell mom it’s a campus tour.”  
“Yeah? Thinking of going to The Wall?”  
“Maybe, seeing you everyday puts it in the pro column.” She chugged the rest of the champagne and pushed her chair closer to Jon, “give me some of your warmth.”

He draped Robbs discarded blanket over the two of them and put an arm around her shoulders. He saw her eye lids getting heavy and felt her breath hitch. He turned and looked at the fire pit.

“We should not have polished off that last bottle,” he heard her say, “We are all most certainly fucked for tomorrow.”

“We should get inside.”

“Not yet, I’d like to avoid the general Catelyn crowd.”

“Fine, but if your sister dies of hypothermia, I wont use my future lawyering skills to get you out of jail.”

They sat quiet again, looking at the fire. A cheer rang out from the house.

“Happy New Year.” They said at the same time and laughed. They both leaned forward at the same time and kissed. And just as suddenly as it was bought on, it ended.

“Sorry—I—“  
“It’s fine,” he tried to assuage her, “we both had—a lot of champagne. You should get Sansa inside before she freezes to death. I’ll put out the fire.”

She helped Arya to her feet while Jon dumped snow on the fire. And they went inside. Saying goodnight at their respective doors, Jon fell asleep and wished he could take back what he said to her. He didn’t want to blame it on alcohol. But it was too late now.

* * *

May

Finals nearly wiped Jon out. He passed and with flying colors, but he practically lived in the library. He envied his roommates and their choice of easier majors, but Sam was in the same boat as him. Sam was pre-med, had barely seen his girlfriend Gilly and their walks to the library kept Jon sane. Sam would prattle on, ask Jon questions but wouldn’t wait for a response. Jon enjoyed being able to turn his brain off for the minute or two while Sam talked.

“How are you?”

“Good, you?”

“Also good.”

That was the extent of his conversations with Arya since New Years Eve. He thought it might be easier to play the kiss off as a drunk decision. But instead of laughing it off with her, they both ran head first into their own bubble of discomfort. As much as he tried to downplay it, he cared a lot for Arya as more than her sort of cousin, sort of brother. He forgot how exactly they were related since growing up with the Starks made him more like a brother to them all. Which made it even worse.

He found out from Robb that she started dating Gendry.

“He’s like our age. What kind of guy looks at a 16 year old and says ‘yep, that’s the one.’ It’s fucking creepy. Don’t tell Arya I said that though.”

“I wont, don’t worry.”

“He better keep his hands to himself, or I swear to the Gods, I’ll fly back home and kick his ass.”

Jon felt pretty much the same. And he found himself checking Gendry’s social media once a week, just to catch a glimpse of Arya’s face. She smiled in all of the photos he took of her but he knew Arya better than Gendry did. Her smiles never quite reached her eyes in his photos of her. In the pictures where Gendry has his arms around her, she seemed to be curling inward rather than standing proudly like she normally does. Arya never shied away from anyone.

Jon texted her on his last day of classes and it was the longest conversation they had since New Years.

“Hey kid, just wanted to let you know I’m sticking around campus for the summer.”  
“Oh, so you’re not coming home for Sansa’s graduation?”

“Can’t. The law clinic sees a lot more work over the summer when kids aren’t in school, so I’ll be busy filing.”

“Maybe—“  
“Yeah?”  
“I was just wondering—“ her voiced sounded small, like she was whispering into the phone, “maybe, I can come up to visit?”  
“Yeah that would be nice—“  
“Hey Arry, hurry up!” He heard Gendry yell through her phone, “Sorry, Jon, I gotta go. Talk to you soon, yeah?”  
“Yeah, talk to you later kid.”


	4. Gendry pt. 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gendry and Arya has issues but her stubbornness could make them work.

September

She had options. She had a long talk with her guidance counselor when she got back to school and they discussed her “future.” She left with a lot of pamphlets to the local colleges, Winterfell U and Winterfell U at the Wall, White Harbor College, and the Vale College for Women. She threw Vale pamphlet out as soon as she left the office. Sansa ended up transferring there after her freshman year at Kings Landing University. Not that Sansa was to blame for what happened to her but Arya didn’t want to go to a women’s college, let alone a women’s college with Sansa. 

She already decided on applying to Bravos University on the recommendation of her fencing coach, and Kings Landing University because Gendry was going there. She was also applying to to Winterfell U at the Wall as her safety school. A part of her hoped she didn’t get into any of her reach schools so she could stay close to Jon. It seemed like no matter how much they promised each other not to, they kept drifting apart. Arya couldn’t look him in the eye after they kissed, nor could she say anything more than basic pleasantries when they called each other. But no matter how much they drifted apart, all she wanted was to be close to him and maybe they could get back to how they used to be.

She never asked about her is dating life and he never asked about Gendry. It was like an unspoken agreement between the two of them. Their dating lives were always going to be kept secret from the other. 

* * *

November

Gendry was home from college. They had some issues doing the whole long distance thing but him being home for the week made her extremely happy. They could be a real couple again, and go out together and kiss. Arya missed kissing Gendry a lot. Jon was also home for the week, so she was struggling to spend time with both of them.   
They went out for ice cream one night after dinner; her, Jon, Gendry and Rickon. It was not a disaster but not a success either. Jon asked Gendry a lot of questions. Arya knew he was just playing the overprotecting older brother role, but she could see why Gendry thought it was more like an interrogation. “What are you studying at Kings Landing?,” “Are you enjoying school? I know it took me a little while to properly balance school work and partying.” “How’s your dorm? I heard the dorms in Kings Landing are huge.”   
Gendry responded with terse statements and didn’t try to participate in the conversation at all. Arya knew he was shy around people he didn’t know but he put way more effort when he met Robb in Kings Landing.   
“He was just trying to get to know you.”  
“Didn’t seem that way to me.”  
“What does that mean?”  
“That Lord Snow was looking down his nose at me because I haven’t picked a major yet.”  
“He wasn’t doing that.”  
“Yes he was Arry. I wish for once you would take my side when it comes to him.”  
They didn’t always fight but for some reason Jon bought out a jealous streak in Gendry. She liked it when they were in school together and he stopped creeps like Bolton from hitting on her, but not when it came to Jon. 

“How are you related to him anyway?” Gendry asked once early on in their relationship.   
“His dad and my dad were college roommates, and my dad is Jon’s godfather. His parents died in a car accident when he was 7-8ish and he came to live with us then. Why?”  
“No reason, I just thought it was all like tv. Siblings fighting all the time.”  
“Oh Sansa and I fight all the time, but Jon is my favorite person.”  
“But not Robb?”  
“Nah, Robb is too much the stereotypical older brother, Jon is that too but different. Like I know he isn’t going to run and tattle on me like Robb does sometimes.” 

When Gendry and Jon left to go back to their respective colleges, Arya thought more about what Gendry said. And of all the fights they had in the past because she would tell Jon her good news before she told Gendry. The times Arya canceled plans with him cause Jon was going to call her that night. All the times she would put Jon above Gendry. And she decided to stop. 

* * *

  
December  


Her and Gendry were doing better now. She devoted more of the time she spent on Jon to Gendry. They video chatted more and she could tell Gendry was breathing a little bit easier because of it. She could tell that he felt more secure of their relationship than he did before thanksgiving, and if she could ease some of the tension she was unwittingly causing, she would do so.   
“Just don’t get lost.” Jon texted her early one morning while she was walking through the halls of her school.   
“What does that mean?” She told him that she felt like a bad girlfriend and was going to try to be better for Gendry.  
“You’re a strong, smart girl. Don’t forget who you are just to make Gendry happy, that’s all.” 

“I gotta say, I agree with Jon on this one.” Sansa said when she told her of their conversation when Sansa returned home from the Vale.   
“I’m not going to tell you what to do and I can only speak of my experience, but I thought if I was the most perfect girlfriend, maybe Joffrey wouldn’t treat me so bad. And that kind of thinking never works. Now—“she kept going sensing Arya wanted to interrupt, “I’m not saying Gendry is Joffrey, just be careful. I didn’t realize Joffrey was abusive long before he laid a hand on me. And I don’t want you to go through even an iota of what I went through, so just, be careful with him.”  
Arya didn’t know what Sansa or Jon we’re talking about. Gendry liked her strong and smart and she could handle herself when it came to him. And the part that she kept trying to silence said, “but what if they’re seeing something I’m not.”

  
They both came home for Christmas but Arya spent more of her time with Gendry at his house. And as part of his Christmas present she decided she was ready to have sex with him. She was nervous as all get out, but was happy that Gendry was gentle and patient with her. And this is the part of Gendry she loved. The one who was surly with everyone else but her. The bull who was all soft on the inside. She put her conversations with Jon and Sansa out of her mind and enjoyed this part of her relationship with Gendry. Who knows, maybe she’d decide to go to Kings Landing University to be with him. It was a possibility she was willing to explore. 

* * *

  
February

They celebrated Valentine’s Day over FaceTime. It was going great until Gendry started a fight because she received gifts from Jon and Robb. They used to all get chocolate from her dad on Valentine’s Day. It was his special way of showing them love. Robb and Jon started doing it when he died and she never thought it was weird but Gendry did.   
“Do you know how that makes me feel?”  
“I don’t understand what the issue is. Everyone got chocolate from Jon and Robb.”  
“But I’m not dating everyone, am I?”  
“You know what? I’m fucking sick of you and your irrational jealousy when it comes to Jon—“  
“So what, your breaking up with me?”  
“Yes, call me when you’ve gotten over yourself.” She ended the call and threw her phone away from her. They had fought many times. Both as friends and when they started dating, but this was different. She never felt sick to her stomach after those fights. This one felt like it was going to stick. 

* * *

  
June

They had gotten back together after all. She was wary of his jealous streak but being more aware of it made her confident that she could handle herself. And her therapist, Mycah, was helping her establish boundaries with Gendry; “Jon is my family, so I can’t not have him in my life. If you can’t deal with my pack, we can’t be together.”  
For his part, Gendry apologized and began therapy. And was doing well at using the tools to manage his jealousy. “My therapist, Mel, says my low self-esteem is most likely the reason for my jealousy. So we are working on that.” 

And she was glad she only told Bran about her fight and subsequent breakup with Gendry. Sansa and Jon were already skeptical when it came to him, and she did not want their influence on her relationship. And with her going to college in Kings Landing, she did not want to cause them any more undue worry.   
She couldn’t believe that she was going to KLU. She had gotten rejected from Bravos and had to decide between KLU and the Wall. With the help of her mom, she decided that KLU had the better pre-med program and with high enough grades from KLU, she could practically get into any medical school in the country. The fact that she and Gendry were rebuilding their relationship didn’t hurt KLUs chances either.  
  
Her mother planned the biggest graduation party for her. And everyone was home to celebrate with her. Later, when the party was over and it was just her and Robb sharing in a late night Mario Kart session, he asked her about Gendry.   
“He told me you guys broke up not too long ago, and now your back together, what happened little sis?”  
“Nothing. We had a fight, we broke up, he apologized, I apologized. We’re back together.”  
“Are you sure? Cause I can get Jon to hold him down while I punch him.”  
“Yes,” she said, laughing, “we’re okay. Trust me, I can take care of him myself, that’s why I keep so many swords around.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter will do a nice time jump to the next relationship these crazy kids have.


	5. Daenerys

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jon has got himself a new lady friend.

August

Law school was tough. But he was made it through with little sleep and little social life. Well not that little of a social life. His new girlfriend Dany was in the same boat as him and helped him get through. And he was glad he chose to go to school in Oldtown. Not only did he meet Dany in his Dispute Resolution class in the 2nd year; but his friend Sam was in the Oldtown Medical school.

He had his mind set on being a public defender ever since undergrad and he volunteered at the law clinic at the Wall. Dany was working towards family law after growing up with her brother in the foster care system in Essos. He loved her fiery spirit and couldn’t wait to introduce her to Arya. They were sure to hit it off as both women were passionate about helping others. They were planning a trip to visit Arya in Bravos as soon as she was settled and they had some free time.

They were both hunkering down in their apartment studying for the Bar and Sam was over for dinner on his one day off that week.

“How’s the family?” Sam asked while they ate.

“Good. Everyone is busy.” Jon went for a slice of pizza and missed the confused look on Dany’s face at Sams question.  
“Doing what?”  
“Robb is getting his MBA in Kings Landing,—uh, Sansa is working for a senator in the Vale. Arya is packing up to move to Bravos at the end of the month. Bran is studying environmental science at some weird hippie college north of the Wall. And Rick is trying to not give Catelyn a heart attack.”  
“Gods, Jon how many of you are there?” Dany asked.

“A lot, plus the dogs, it was a full house.”

“Arya got into Bravos? That’s a really hard school to get into. She must have set the curve for the MCAT.”

“Yeah, she’s the genius of the family as she likes to remind us.”

“Aww, you’re pretty smart yourself.” Dany said and gave him a kiss on the cheek while Sam made a gagging face.

“But where, oh, where is Gilly this evening, Sam?” Jon asked as he got himself a third slice of pizza.

“She just got off of a 4 day shift, wanted the evening to recharge with little Sam.”  
“Send her our love, please. And next time she is more than welcome to bring Sammie,” Dany chimed in.

“Will do.”

When Sam left for the evening and they were cleaning up, Dany brought up his family.

“Your last name is Snow but they’re all Starks, whats going on there?”

“We’re siblings, kind of. My parents died when I was 7 and I grew up with the Starks. They were like my siblings. Well, most of them were like my siblings. My aunt,” Jon did air quotes around the word, “didn’t like me very much and Sansa took after her. Wasn’t until their dad, my Uncle Ned, died that she came around. Not Catelyn though, at least I don’t think so. As far as I know, she still hates my guts.”

“That sucks, do you know why?”  
“Ahh, there is my little lawyer,” Jon wrapped his arms around Dany and kissed her forehead.

“Not yet. Now, stop dodging my questions.”

“Yes, your honor.”

“That’s a judge.”

“I don’t know. Ned wasn’t around a lot, he was busy getting his business off the ground. And all of a sudden she has an extra kid to look after. Not only that, but a kid with issues. I just ruined the image of her perfect life.”

“Ugh, I don’t want to meet her.”

“She’s good people. Just—very, old money. Debutant ball, that kinda stuff.” He let out a big sigh, “anyway, according to Arya she mellowed out, doesn’t let all the shit that used to bother her, bother her anymore.”

“I cant wait to meet Ayra,” Dany smiled, “you talk about her so much, she sounds great.”  
“I cant wait for you to meet her, and Sansa. And Bran. Not so much Robb,” Jon said with a laugh.

“Why not Robb?”  
“He’s a big flirt.”

* * *

December

Jon and Dany both passed the Bar in September and were both working; Jon as an assistant trial attorney and Dany working for a family court law firm. Jon could tell she hated the work, it was mainly custody and child support disputes, but if she wanted to be a family court judge, she had to start somewhere.

They were on their way to Kings Landing for Christmas at Robbs place. Arya was flying in from Bravos for her one break since school started. And Jon was excited to see her again. The trip he and Dany took to see her in early September was short and they spent the entire time helping her furnish her apartment. But they did hit it off, just like Jon knew they would.

“Please, send me that recipe as soon as you get back,” Arya told Dany as they hugged goodbye at the airport, “Dragon chicken sounds absolutely delicious.”

“I will and look up my nephew, he’ll gladly give you a tour of all of the hipster bars in Bravos.”

“Will do.” Arya said over Jons shoulder to Dany.

“Call me, if you need anything,” Jon whispered in her ear before letting her go.

“Always. Now go! Or I will never leave this airport.”

They arrived at Robbs apartment in Kings Landing just as Jeyne, Robbs girlfriend was setting the table.

“Welcome, welcome!” Jeyne hugged them both like they were old friends, “Robb just left to the airport. Sansa and Arya both scheduled their flights to come in at around the same time.”

“Perfect, we come bearing gifts,” Jon showed her the box of wine bottles at the entrance as Dany shrugged open the bag on her shoulder to reveal the mountain of presents they bought with them.

“Let’s get you all settled. We can put your bags in the guest room. I’m sure Jon told you,” Jeyne turned to Dany as she led them to the 2nd bedroom, “That you’re gonna be crashing on the couch. Arya called dibs on the guest bedroom on the group chat first and rules is rules.”

“Yes, Jon told me.”

Jon and Dany deposited their bags in the bedroom and Jeyne left to tend to whatever she was doing in the kitchen.

“Wow, Arya gets her way a lot, huh?”  
“What do you mean?”  
“She called dibs on the room and everyone said sure. That’s kinda weird, don’t you think?”

“Not really. Dibs is taken very seriously in the Stark household; you cant really raise 6 kids without some sort of rules being law. Besides, her and Sansa are sharing it.”

“Really? Dibs is law now?”  
“It is, or else we would have all yelled each other’s heads off growing up. We also settled a lot of arguments with Mario Kart. Did you and Viserys not have weird rules?”

“Not really, we were never with a family long enough to have rules.”  
“You are more than welcome to start playing by ours. Settling an argument with Mario Kart is much better than how we used to do it.”  
“What did you used to do?” Dany smirked.

“Yelling and then eventually wrestling. We broke a lot of vases.”

“So how are classes going, Ar?” Robb asked as they gathered around the dinner table. Jeyne’s hard work in the kitchen all day paid off. As they all stuffed themselves to the gills, they complimented Jeyne with every bite.

“Pretty okay. Infectious diseases class kicked my ass but I am so glad it is over.”

“Sans, hows working for Baelish?”

“Tough. They introduced a new bill and its been tough getting support for it; the amount of backroom deals is insane. I’ll say yes to this bill if you say yes to mine.”

“Whats the bill?” Arya asked as she helped herself to more potatoes.

“Moving to make sex work legal in Westeros.”

“That’s really noble of Baelish. I mean, you can totally tell he’s thinking with his wallet but, still…” Arya said as she took another sip of her wine.

Dany looked incensed, “But why would you want sex work to be legal?”

“It’ll protect sex workers. We already have the data from Bravos where sex work has been legal for eons.”  
“But what about child prostitution? Sex trafficking?” Dany’s voice was getting higher and higher as her cheeks got redder and redder. Jon put a hand on her shoulder to try to calm her down but she shrugged it off.

“All of those things are currently illegal and will continue to be illegal with the new bill. We are looking to protect the women who have chosen this as a career. As well as regulating the industry much like porn is regulated. There is no _legal_ child porn being produced in Westeros because the government is able to regulate the industry.”

“I cant—you—“ Dany couldn’t find the words, so she just left the table and went into the bathroom. Jon followed soon after.

“Are you okay?”  
“No,” Dany said through clenched teeth, “I cant believe she thinks sex work should be legal. Do you know how many kids there are out there who are—I cant.”

“I understand but like she said, its illegal now and will still be illegal if it passes. And if the industry is regulated, those children can be helped.”

“Helped? How? It’ll just drive them further underground.”  
“Maybe but—“  
“No buts, Jon. You’re either with me, or you’re not.”

“I’m with you, of course I’m with you, but—“ Dany glared at him, “however—“  
“That’s just a fancy but.”  
“However, can we drop it for now and enjoy the rest of Christmas? Please? For Me?”  
“Fine. Just give me a minute.”

* * *

March

Jon and Dany were both busy after the New Years so they didn’t see each other as often. He was given a few more cases to write motions for and was even starting to get more trial experience. He was cooking dinner and going through some files when his phone rang.

“Hey Sans, whats up?”  
“Hey bro, Baelish has a couple of meetings in town next week and I just wanted to give you a heads up, see if you can pencil me in for dinner one of those days.”  
“Sure can do.”

Dinner with Sansa was fun. She insisted on the fanciest restaurant and made sure to talk business so she could put it on her expense account.

“How’s Dany?”  
“She’s good. Busy with work.”  
“What is her job again?”  
“Family lawyer.”

“Oh, so shes not running for office?” Sansa smirked and Jon felt uneasy.  
“No,” he chuckled, “what do you mean?”  
“She’s started a campaign to try to stop the bill.”

“She what?” Sansa pushed her phone over to Jon and he saw the letter signed by Dany.

“She sent them to every senator and has started a texting campaign to drum up support.”  
“I’m sorry, Sansa,” Jon passed her back her phone.  
“It’s okay. Not the first time and wont be the last. Just for such a champion of the little guy, you’d think she’d realize that this bill is important for women everywhere. Anyway, heard from Arya lately?”

“Not recently. Work has been kinda hectic.”  
“Ahh, I’m going to visit her next month, she’s got a new man shes going to introduce me to.” Sansa’s gaze was penetrating and he had to look away.  
“Does she?” He took a large drink of his wine, thankful that the glass covered his face.  
“Yeah, some guy named Jaqen.”

“Huh,” Jon schooled his face quickly before Sansa could notice any more, “what about you? Any one in your life?”

“Hmm, there is an aide for Senator Baratheon down in The Reach. We’ve gotten some drinks whenever we’re both in Kings Landing. But I don’t know if they’re into me.”

“Whats his name?”  
“ _Her_ name is Margery Tyrell.” Sansa looked up at him apprehensively, Jon could tell she was scared to say that the person she was interested in was a woman, “I’m going down to Kings Landing after this to meet her.”

“Loras Tyrells sister?”  
“Yeah! _You_ know who Loras Tyrell is?”  
“Yeah, Dany and Gilly think he’s dreamy. They both have calendars of him from that Fight For the Crown show.”

They spent the rest of the evening talking about her crush on Margery and Jon had to convince her that when Margery kept making excuses to touch her, that she was indeed flirting and Sansa should indeed, shoot her shot.

* * *

May

Things with Dany had gotten tense. She was still not happy that Jon didn’t see her side on Baelish’s bill.

“We’re supposed to be a team. I understand she is your sister—cousin, whatever, but if you and I are going to be together, you have to have my back on this.”  
“I _do_ have your back, but I can disagree with you on this.”

“Feels like you disagree with me on a lot of things,” she mumbled.

“What does that mean?”  
“You have a blind spot when it comes to your family. Especially when it comes to Sansa and doubly so when it comes to Arya.” The coffee table was between them but to Jon it might as well had been an ocean. What he once thought of as passion, he was now starting to see as rigidity. He thought Arya was stubborn until he had met Dany.

His phone on the coffee table rang, Aryas face popping up on the display. “Speak of the devil,” she said as she handed it to him and went into his bedroom.

“Hey Ar,” he sighed.

“Woah, rough day?” He tried to keep the fatigue out of his voice but Arya could always tell his emotions no matter how much he tried to hide them.

“You could say that. Whats up?”  
“My vacation is coming up in a month and Mom is planning a Midsummer bash. I was hoping to convince you and Dany into taking a break and come up to Winterfell for it.”

He smiled and thought of all the fun Midsummer parties they had when they were younger and how much he missed them since Cat stopped doing them after Ned passed. “I can try to make it up for the weekend but I’m not sure about Dany.”

“Great, please come up, I need a Jon Snow hug before I have to go back to school. And I’ll text Dany and try to convince her to take a break. I gotta go but text me if you want to talk. I can still answer texts in the library.” She quickly hung up and Jon turned around to see Dany in the doorway to his bedroom, holding a picture of him and Arya with their childhood dogs. The smile he had on his face from his short phone call with Arya turned into his signature scowl.

“Gods, I am so stupid.”  
“What?”

“You’re in love with Arya.”  
“I’m not—“  
“Yes, you are Jon. You have more pictures of the two of you than you have of anyone else. Just texting her leaves you beaming. You never smile like that with me.” She scrubbed her face at the tears that were starting to fall and sat on the floor, her back to the wall, above her, a picture of him, Robb and Arya that they took when they went up to the Wall, “Listen, I’m not mad—no I’m very mad; but—“ she stopped and stared at her shoes. “It’s for the best. I cant keep fighting with you to be on my side. I shouldn’t—“ her voice was thick with tears, “I shouldn’t have to fight for you to like me.”

* * *

June

Jon was able to take a week long vacation and make it up to Winterfell for Cat’s Midsummer party. As much as he tried to keep up with the goings on in his family, not being together made it hard. He spent the entire week catching up with them all. Even Cat.

Arya was right, she did mellow out. She even hugged Jon hello when he showed up and his old room was restored. That might have to do with the fact that Jeyne and Robb we’re sharing his, but he was glad to see that Cat hadn’t thrown out any of his things she previously had stated was junk.

After Dany broke up with him, he threw himself into his work and tried to not think about what she said. This vacation was a welcome relief even with Arya reminding him of Dany’s words. 

Everyone, save for Jon and Arya, had bought guests for the week. Jon was happy to see everyone was happy and in love. Sansa and Margery we’re officially a couple. Robb had proposed to Jeyne at New Years Eve so she spent a lot of time with Cat discussing the wedding. Bran had college friends with him; a pair of twins, Jojen and Meera. Jon had caught Bran sneaking a kiss in with Jojen late one night. Rickon’ s friend from school came to spend the week and Lyanna Mormont kept him busy and in trouble with Cat, but she didn’t seem to mind as she once would have.

Arya spent a lot of the time sleeping. They’d be out enjoying the warm sun and barbecuing and she’d fall asleep in her chair after dinner. She’d take naps while they waited for fireworks to start. Enjoying a warm day at the lake meant she was asleep for the bulk of the morning, or until Rickon and Lyanna dumped water on her. Jon wanted to talk to her, to see how she was holding up, find out about her new boyfriend; she could recite the phone book and Jon would want to hear it.

“She’s really pretty,” a melodic voice stated. He turned to see Margery Tyrell standing behind him with two drinks in her hand, she passed one to him and looked out to the lake where Arya and Robb were having a chicken fight against Rickon and Lyanna. “Sansa told me about the two of you.”  
“What’s there to tell?”  
“How you two are madly in love with each other and are too chicken shit to tell each other,” Sansa sat down next to Jon, pulling Margery down with her.

No use in denying his love for Arya anymore, he thought, everyone was right about it. “Arya’s not scared of anything.” 

“Are you kidding me? She is scared of a lot of things, she’s just better at hiding it than the rest of us. She’s scared of what Mom thinks about her; she’s scared that she isn’t doing as well in Medical school as she would like, most of all she is fucking terrified of disappointing you. She doesn’t tell you half of whats going on in her life because she’s afraid you wouldn’t love her anymore—“ Sansa let out a frustrated sigh, “honestly, its fucking ridiculous.”  
  


Jon sat and thought on their words. And thought back to their recent interactions. She did mostly only tell him her good news and it wasn’t until Sansa brought it up to him, did he ever know of her relationships or failures.

Sitting around the bonfire that night, getting high with Bran and Jojen didn’t help as much as he thought it would. Bran could be very perceptive but Jon wasn’t in the mood to hear what he had to say.

“I think you two have put each other up on these ridiculous pedestals and now you’re both stuck pining for each other because you don’t want to ruin this perception you have.” Bran let out the puff of smoke he was holding and started the conversation as if it was a continuation of one they were having.

“What?”  
“You and Arya.” Noticing the look of confusion on Jons face, “Sansa told me about what you guys talked about.”

“So everyone is just talking about me and Arya?”  
“Yeah, its like a real life soap opera,” Bran smirked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Had to find a reason why Dany and Jon weren’t going to work out and I tried to keep it in line with her original character’s need for unquestioning loyalty. Also her championing for the little guy except when that vision doesn’t align with hers.  
> I tried to keep Sansa as politically savvy as possible. She knows how to needle a person with snippets of information. 
> 
> More than likely gonna be another time jump to get through Arya’s medical school. I’m not a doctor so I’m not gonna pretend to know what I’m talking about there.


	6. Jaqen H’ghar

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Arya begins her residency and Jaqen makes himself known.

June

She was moving again. She hated this part of the process, when you have to pack up your life and curse yourself for not being a minimalist. She had to decide what would go and what she would keep. She wanted to keep her mattress, it was the comfiest bed she ever owned but shipping it across the Narrow Sea would cost her an arm and a leg. She had finished Medical school and her graduation party was a small affair with just her Mom, Rickon and Jon coming over to see her walk. Her residency program was starting in July and she needed all the time she had left in Bravos to pack up and get it ready to ship to her new home in Kings Landing. Sansa and Margery found her a beautiful apartment in the Cobblers Square district. She was a quick metro ride away from the hospital where she would be working and a 15 minute bike ride to the apartment Sansa shared with Margery. And Jon had moved to Kings Landing for a job as a public defender. She was happy to be a five minute walk from his apartment. “Just try to get rid of me,” he joked when she told him where she was moving to.

Her phone chimed as she packed up the books in her living room. Jon’s text popped up on the display. “FaceTime in a bit?” It said. They had been chatting more frequently and her heart fluttered every time they talked on the phone. She didn’t know why he and Dany didn’t work out but he had been single for the past three years and so far she was relishing in the attention he was giving her. Not to mention he was being a lot more sensitive than usual. He would tell her of his failures in the courtroom and how frustrated he was for his clients being stonewalled by the court system. Since he was sharing more and more, she started sharing as well. She told him more of her fears regarding becoming a doctor. Mainly how afraid she was of fucking up and costing someone their life.

“I feel the same way whenever I cant help a client, but you just have to do your best and hope that the gods are on your side. Sometimes, things are out of your control,” he tried to assuage her fears and it worked. His confidence in her was inspiring.

Her phone rang; Jon FaceTiming. They chat while she waits for her food and he helps her decide which of her books she should pack.  
“The Midnight series, definitely toss,” he said when she held it up to the phone, “I cant believe you read those.”  
“Hey! I needed something easy to read for fun. We cant all read the classics like you do.”  
“I read trash too.”  
“Such as?”  
“The Fight for the Crown series.”  
Arya laughed, “seriously? You read those? Even I have higher standards than that and I read the Midnight series.”  
“Gilly lent them to me when I was dating Dany. I was trying to connect with her. Whats your excuse for the Midnight books?”  
“I have none, I’m indefensible. But I’m packing them, you will read these books so we can talk about how bad they are.”

Her doorbell buzzed, its her food but when she closes her door, there is a knock. Thinking it was the delivery man again, she opened it to find Jaqen.  
She quickly tried to close the door but Jaqen was faster and put his foot in the way, “a man is desperate to talk to his lovely girl.”  
“And a girl is desperate to get the man out of her apartment.”  
“Arya, are you okay?” Jon’s tiny voice called out.  
“I’m fine Jon, hang on,” she kept pushing on the door trying to get Jaqen to get his foot out of the door jamb, “you need to leave Jaqen, we have nothing left to say to each other.”  
“Please, lovely girl, you can’t leave me like this.”  
“I can and I will, now leave,” she kept pushing but Jaqen was stronger. He pushed against the door, sending her backwards, “what do you want Jaqen?”  
“The Waif says you are leaving, why lovely girl?” He reached his hand out to stroke her face like he used to do. Arya swatted it away.  
“The Waif? Her name is Kate, Jaqen, you can’t just give people new names. And I’m leaving to do my residency, now if you’ll excuse me, I have to finish packing.” She stood by her open door and waited for Jaqen to leave.

“Arya, whats going on?” Jon asked again from her phone. She picked it up, “sorry Jon, hang on two more seconds.” To Jaqen she said, “You have to go.”  
“Have drinks with me, lovely girl. Tonight? Please?”  
Arya could sense the only way she’d get rid of him was to say yes, “I’ll think about it.” She raised her eyebrows and held the door open again.  
“8 o’clock, at Lysene’s?”  
“Fine.”

He left and it took all of Aryas energy to go back to her conversation with Jon.  
“Arya, what was that?”  
“It was—“  
“Don’t say nothing, I know it wasn’t nothing. You can talk to me, Ar.”

She let out a big sigh, grabbed her dinner and sat down to tell him everything, “His name is Jaqen and we dated first year of medical school. But I broke it off because he is kind of intense, as you can see.”  
“Are you okay? Are you safe in your apartment by yourself?”  
“Yeah, I’m okay. He—just doesn’t really take no for an answer.”  
“I really don’t like the idea of you going to get drinks with him—“  
“I’m not going to get drinks with him, are you nuts?”  
“Good. And I know you don’t want to hear it but I’d feel much better if you have a friend stay over too. Better safe than sorry.”  
“He wont do anything—“  
“I’ve heard a lot of women say that before. Please, Ar, for me?”  
Her heart swelled and she could feel her cheeks warming a bit, Jon’s gaze penetrated her even through her phone, “Okay, I’ll call a friend to spend the night.”

* * *

September

She forgot how unbearably hot Kings Landing could be in the summer. At least Bravos had the canals and the air coming off of them would cool the city down, but Kings Landing was all building and it was oppressively hot. She took to carrying an extra shirt with her to change into when she got to her destination. Except for when she went to Jon’s place, she’d just steal a shirt from him. He didn’t complain but a few weeks into living in Kings Landing, Arya went over to Jons for dinner on her one day off of the week, went into his room to steal a shirt and noticed he had only a handful left.  
“Why didn’t you say anything about me stealing your shirts?” She asked as she left his room, pulling his Wipe Out at The Wall t-shirt on. It was one of her favorites.  
“What do you mean?”  
“I think I have all of your shirts at my place, you should have told me I have them.”  
“Oh, I guess I didn’t notice. I’m mainly in button down shirts anyway.”  
“I’ll drop them tomorrow before my shift.”  
“Thanks but its not that big of a deal. Dinner will be ready in 5 minutes.”  
“Great I’m starving.”

As they ate dinner Arya told Jon all about her week at the hospital. They had her working in the emergency department for the first month and it was kicking her ass. At the very least she was a pro at intubation. On the downside it meant she only had one day off a week, which she spent studying, with breaks for dinner with Jon and/or Sansa. If you had told her when she was a kid that she would be having dinner with Sansa and that Sansa would be having dinner with Jon, she would have laughed. But that’s growing up.  
She heard her phone ring while she was in the bathroom.  
“Do you want me to answer it?” Jon asked from the living room, “It says Bad is calling.”  
“NO!” She screamed as she ran out of the bathroom, “don’t!”  
“Who is it?”  
“Jaqen.”  
“He’s still bothering you?”   
“Yeah, but its just phone calls. Nothing I cant handle.”  
“Arya—“ Jon put on his concerned voice and Arya frowned.  
“I know, I know. But I can handle it. Now are we watching this movie or not?”  
“Yes,” he sighed, “we are.”  
“Good. No promises I can stay awake for it though.”

* * *

December

She was on her last week of night floats before starting vacation and she was planning on all the sleep she was going to catch up on. Jon requested his vacation to coincide with hers. She tried not to get her hopes up. It was Christmas after all, Jon could just want the holiday off as well. But he was awakening all the feelings she buried deep long ago. She struggled to maintain her cool around him; she was convinced she had a permanent blush whenever they would hang out together. But she had to keep reminding herself that Jon saw her as his sister. He cared about her like Robb cared about her; more than Robb when she thought about it. Robb didn’t care when she missed a meal because she was busy studying.

She looked at the clock. Half an hour before she was done with another night. Two more nights and she would be off for the whole week.

She stopped at the grocery store on her way home. It must have been a testament to how tired she was, she didn’t notice Jaqen sitting at her doorstep until she almost tripped on his outstretched legs. She forgot how tall he was; he towered over her and she shivered.  
“Lovely girl, you haven’t been sleeping.” He tried to reach out and touch her face but she pulled away, “You used to treat me better than this, lovely girl.”  
Her heart was pounding in her chest and she couldn’t get her thoughts in order. Where she was exhausted a minute ago, now she was wide awake, the adrenaline coursing through her body waking her up. She dropped her groceries and ran out of the building, no idea where she was going besides away. Her subconscious knew where to take her though; she buzzed Jon’s apartment and prayed to the old gods that he didn’t go for an early morning run.  
“Hello?” His sleepy voice rang out from the intercom.  
“Jon,” her voice was shaky and he immediately buzzed her in.  
He looked scared at seeing her so early in the morning and she ran into him, wrapping her arms around his waist.  
“Woah, Ar, whats wrong?”  
“It’s Jaqen,” her voice shook as he pulled her inside and parked her on the couch, “he wa—he was outside of my apartment.” She felt Jon tense up beside her and saw him rub his chin. “My groceries—“  
“What?”  
“I dropped my groceries when I ran.”  
“Fuck, Ar, I don’t care about the groceries, are you okay?”  
“I’m—“she was about to say ‘fine’ but that would be a lie. She wasn’t fine. Her crazy ex was in Kings Landing and he found where she lived. She felt the tears well up in her eyes, but she wiped them before they could fall. All the adrenaline left her body and she was growing tired. “Can I crash here? I have to be at the hospital again tonight and all I really want is to sleep.”

He nodded and she went to his room to sleep.

She woke up at 4pm and dreaded the idea of going back to her place to get ready for work. She saw Jon sitting at the table on his laptop.  
“Morning,” she yawned and went to the coffee maker.  
“Did you sleep well?”  
“Yeah, you’ve got one comfy bed. Did you work from home today?” she questioned, looking at the stacks of folders surrounding his laptop.  
“Yeah, I didn’t have to go to court today so—I, uh—grabbed some stuff from your apartment for you.”  
“You did?”  
“Yeah, I figured until we can get a order of protection for you, you can crash at mine—or Sansa’s,” he quickly added.  
“Thanks,” she looked at the duffle bag that held her belongings and bite her lower lip.  
“He wasn’t there if that’s what you’re wondering.” She nodded and continued to worry her lip, “and you should be safe at the hospital. Sansa said she can drop you off at the hospital whenever you have to work nights—“  
“Jon,” she said quietly.  
“and Margery offered to send a car to pick you up in the mornings; or vice versa. Alternatively, I can stop scheduling appointments after 4 and I can pick you up from the hospital when you’re back to a normal schedule—“  
“Jon,” she said more forcefully. She walked to where he was standing and wrapped her arms around him again, his arms pulled her into an even deeper hug, “thank you.”  
She felt his breath on the top of her head, “Anything for you, Ar.”

* * *

April

Jon was able to get her an order of protection against Jaqen; the perks of being a lawyer. Unfortunately, he didn’t work for the district attorney, so he was only able to get one for ninety days. But it was something, she had to remind herself of that. The phone calls from Jaqen continued so she had to get a new number but she hadn’t seen him since that day at her apartment.

She barely spent anytime by herself, nowadays. She would either sleep at Jons or he would sleep at hers. She tried staying with Sansa and Margery, but after a week, she and Sansa reverted back to their childhood selves and she learned that Margery was dynamite in the sack.

Sansa picked her up that afternoon after her rotation. Another new normal for her. She stopped taking the train to work, instead opting to take her bike or, on days when it rained, Jon or Sansa would drop her off and pick her up.

“Anything Margery and I can pick up for Saturday?” Sansa asked as she pulled out of the hospital lot.  
“Ice, you can never have enough ice. My friend Hot Pie is dropping the cake off as soon as Jon leaves to meet with Sam and Gilly. We should have a two hour window to get the apartment ready.”  
“I know Jon is totally in love with you, and all, but he absolutely hates surprises, what makes you think he isn’t going to hate this one?”  
“Jon is not ‘totally in love with me,’” she rolled her eyes, “besides, surprise parties are different—“  
“They are not different. He hates people jumping out at him, this is going to backfire. And he is in love with you,” Sansa pulled up in front of Jon’s building, “listen, I love you but you are so blind sometimes. He loves you and you love him. If Robb acted the way Jon is about this whole stalker situation, you would have yelled at him and said, “I got this.” But Jon practically moves you into his apartment and you’re cool with it; cause its Jon. He could murder a baby goat and you’d say the goat had it coming.

Sansa had a point, Arya had to admit that.

“I’m not going to tell you what to do, Gods know it just makes us fight, but you should think about it before dismissing it outright. I guarantee if you ask, Jon would say he hasn’t dated anyone because he’s waiting for you. Now,” Sansa went from her sensitive voice to her business voice, one that Arya hated when they were kids but respected now that they were adults, “get out of this car, Margery and I have dinner plans with her brother. See you Saturday.”

She barely paid attention to the dinner she was making for her and Jon that night, it was a miracle she didn’t burn it. He was running late but she was glad for the time alone with her thoughts. She couldn’t deny that Jon cared deeply for her. As evidenced by the fact that he always took the couch even when she insisted on switching, as sleeping on the couch for prolonged periods of time wasn’t good for his back. And she did a lot more for him than she ever did in any of her relationships. Arya could be selfish, but she put Jons needs above hers many times.

The surprise party was a hit if she could say so herself. He seemed happy to be surrounded by his friends and family. She didn’t get off completely scotch free though. As he hugged her and loudly thanked her for putting it together, he quietly whispered, “you’re so dead,” in her ear. The party wrapped not long after Sam and Gilly left to be with little Sam. Sansa and Margery stayed to help her clean but they too departed, and then it was just her and Jon. She chastised herself for being so nervous around him. It was Jon; her Jon. Her best friend and quasi brother.

“I know you’re upset,” she stopped when she saw his confused face, “what?”  
“I’m not upset, not anymore. I have to admit it, this was a fun. Thank you, really, for putting it together.”  
“You’re welcome. I’m glad you liked it. And I have your present.”  
She went to her backpack and pulled the gift bag out, her hands shook as she handed it to him.  
He read the inscription in the card and laughed as he pulled the mug out of the bag, “I already have this one.”  
He held up the #1 Wolf Dad mug, “You did. I kind of broke it.”  
He laughed and pulled her into a hug, “Thanks Ar. And this whiskey tasting sounds amazing.”  
“No problem, you are kind of hard to shop for you know.”  
“I don’t need much.”  
“I know, that’s what makes it hard.” They sat on the couch, Jon kept his arm around her shoulders, and Arya boldly put her head on his.

“You know, the lease on this place is up in June. We’re already practically living together, would you like to just look for a two bedroom together?” She craned her head to look at him, took in the way he nervously refused to meet her eye.  
“Yeah, that would be nice,” she said with a smile.

* * *

June

They found a place in the River Row district. Arya loved the view of the water from their living room window, and filled the windowsill with plants. Her one contention with her last place, was the lack of natural light; so she was taking advantage of the large, eastern facing windows.

She was done with her 1st year of residency. The other residents in her year were going to the nearby bar to celebrate. She hadn’t gone out in ages and her friend Lommy cajoled her into joining them. She would be with a group of people and Jon had to work late that evening anyway, so she figured she could join them and be okay. She felt safe making this one choice and angry at Jaqen that she had to think this way; weigh the pros and cons of living her life. Decision made. She went out.

She didn’t expect to be out that late but one beer turned into two, which turned into celebratory shots. She looked at her watch, the numbers swimming in her field of vision and needed to call it a night. She would certainly feel this hangover tomorrow morning, but she had the weekend to recuperate before her 2nd year rotations started. She bid her friends goodbye and called herself a car.

She did not expect to see Jon so angry when she finally came home.  
“What the fuck, Arya? You didn’t answer any of my calls—“ she looked at the phone in her hand and noticed the missed calls and texts, all from Jon, “where were you?”  
“Sorry, I—we went out for drinks to celebrate being done with the 1st year. I didn’t think I’d be out late,” she clumsily toed her shoes off and went to the kitchen. She could tell she wasn’t walking straight, but it couldn’t be helped; she had too much to drink.  
“Are you drunk?” He asked, she could hear the disappointment in his voice.  
“Tiny bit,” she held her hand up to show how tiny, giggling. She desperately needed water.  
“Arya—“  
“I know I suck, I’m sorry—“  
“You don’t suck, I’m worried, that’s all. If we knew where he—“  
“Fuck, can we not talk about him. I’m tired of wasting my brain space worrying about where he could be—“ he was being nice and Arya knew she was misdirecting her anger but Jaqen wasn’t here for her to yell at. “I went out for a few drinks with some friends and I came home in a car. I was careful and see, I’m fine.”  
Jon only nodded at her. She felt worse now. She didn’t mean to yell at Jon but she was frustrated living her life scared that Jaqen could be following her. Frowning, she went to her room to sleep it off.

When she woke up, she glanced at her clock. 7am. She got up and grabbed a cup of water. Her mouth felt gross and her mind felt worse. She went to his room and climbed in his bed like she used to do when they were kids. He was always a pretty light sleeper and woke up as soon as she slipped under the covers.  
“Whats up?” He asked, groggily. She laid her head on his shoulder and he instantly wrapped his arms around her, drawing her closer.  
“I’m sorry—for yelling at you yesterday.”  
“Its alright, Ar. I understand.”

She nodded into his chest. Jon always understood her and that’s what she loved about him. She reached up and kissed his cheek, “thank you,” she said into it. Her heart was beating a mile a minute, or was that Jons? He turned his face towards hers, or was it her hand on his cheek pulling him towards her. Either way, their lips met and she stopped thinking about what any of it could mean. Whether he loved her like she loved him, or if this was a mistake. All she knew was that she wanted him and Jon kept kissing her, so he must want this as much as she did. His lips left hers and his husky voice stirred something deep inside of her, “I wont stop. Do you understand?” She nodded and pressed her lips into his again. She understood. She wont stop loving him either.


	7. Jon and Arya

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Arya and Jon are finally a couple but some things in life aren’t easy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a long one and I tried to tie up some loose ends but I hope you all enjoy!

July

Arya was running around the apartment. “Its not funny, Jon! Help me look for them.” Jon stood by the door, her coffee cup in one hand and her keys in the other. She sighed exasperatedly, grabbed her bag off the couch and her coffee and keys from Jon. She kissed him goodbye and yelled out, “thank you, see you tonight,” as she left the apartment. Jon only had a few minutes to finish his coffee before he, too, was running out the door.

They didn’t have time for a proper first date like Jon wanted. They spent that first weekend in bed together though; only leaving to eat. He had a permanent smile on his face the following week. Even his clients noticed he wasn’t as sullen as he usually is. She was back to her residency though and with it came her crazy 80 hr work week schedule. They had a dinner date planned for this evening. Technically their first as a couple because he wasn’t counting all the dinners they had in the apartment. He wanted to take her out on a proper date; someplace with cloth napkins.

She started taking the train again and he was still worried about her, but she texts him whenever she gets to her destination and that makes him feel much better. There were no phone calls or emails, Arya feels safer than she has in ages, but Jon’s anxiety regarding the situation is at an all time high.

By the time he gets home from work, Arya is already there. He sees her coming out of the bathroom, a towel wrapped around her, and he feels a flutter in his stomach. He would like nothing more than to take her right then and there, but he is doing this right. First date, he reminds himself. Instead he contends himself with a kiss and he too starts to get ready.

He thought he had seen all of her outfits, but this dress takes his breath away.  
“Sansa and Margery helped me pick it out,” she says, nervously glancing down at herself. The royal blue color pops on her pale skin and the sheer lace at her waist is sinful. Jon cant wait to take her out of it.  
“You look gorgeous,” he stays as he strides towards her to pull her into a deep kiss. First date, he reminds himself again.

The restaurant was one of the best for Bravosi food in Kings Landing. The host, unfortunately could not find his reservation, and being a popular spot on a Friday night, they were booked. “I’m sorry, sir. Did you perhaps make a reservation for another day?” The host asked but Jon assured him, he did not.  
“Its okay, Jon, we can go someplace else,” Arya put her hand on his shoulder, and he instantly relaxed, “I know,” she snaps her fingers at whatever idea popped into her head and she was immediately on her phone calling for take out.

He set candles out on their table and dimmed the lights while she found a romantic playlist. It wasn’t what he had in mind for their first date, but they made it work. He even held her chair out for her and he could see her suppressing a laugh.  
“I’m sorry about the restaurant,” he said as he poured them both some wine.  
“I’m not. If we were there I wouldn’t have been able to take off those heels.” He laughed at that and took his seat next to her.  
“To us?” He held up his wine glass.  
“To us,” she said more forcefully and touched her glass to his.

Later when he’s kissing her neck and trying to find the zipper on the back of her dress, she sighs and says, “This—was a perfect first date.”

* * *

October

“You have to go, Jon,” she exclaimed. They were getting settling into bed and she thought Jon was being a poopy head, so she told him so, “You’re being a poopy head.”  
“I’m not—“  
“Yes, you are. Sam is your best friend and you’ll kick yourself if you miss out on this.”  
“I’ll think about it. Now, can we please go to sleep?”

Sam’s bachelor party was coming up in two weeks and Jon had previously said he was going, but changed his mind when Sansa and Margery were both needed in Dragonstone with their respective bosses for some energy summit. She knew he was worried about leaving her alone but she wasn’t going to be the reason he missed out on some male bonding with his old college roommates.

Sansa came up with a small workaround, “I don’t need to be there all weekend, Baelish has two aides for a reason,” she said, “I’ve been to plenty of these before and Margery’s grandmother will let us use the company jet. The last speaker on Saturday evening is slated to stop at six; if we leave right after, we can be here by midnight.” Jon wasn’t convinced but Arya had another ace up her sleeve, “Lommy is on a 24 hour rotation that Friday, I asked if I could borrow Lucy for the weekend and he said yes. I will be alone for the grand total of one day, and we have a doorman, I’ll be completely safe.” She put on her best puppy dog face, one that she knew Jon could not deny and smiled when he sighed. She knew she had worn him down.

She was looking forward to having at least one day of normalcy in her own apartment. She bought some stinky Bravosi cheese that Jon hates the smell of to celebrate. “Call me if anything happens,” he said as he kissed her goodbye. He took the latest possible flight he could in order to still be on time for the bachelor party. “I left you a present by your side of the bed.” He bent down to scratch Lucys head goodbye, and kissed Arya once more. “Be safe,” they said to each other and Arya was alone in the apartment for the first time since they moved in.

The first thing she did was run to their room to check out the present and laughed when she saw that Jon put a bow on a baseball bat. She left it where she found it and started up a movie. She rolled her eyes when Jon texted to see if she was alright, 1 hour into being gone and then again when he landed in Oldtown. “I’m fine! Say hi to Sam for me.”

She ate her entire block of cheese while watching the shitty movies Jon made fun of her for liking, Lucy laying at her feet, occasionally barking when her neighbors walked by her door. Sansa checked in on her as well, just before the last speaker, “it started to rain here, but we should still be at your place by midnight, maybe one. How are you holding up?”  
“I’m fine. I’ve lived alone before, you know?”  
“Yeah but that was before you had a stalker. Love you. I’ll text you when we’re on our way to yours.”  
“Love you too, Sans. See you tonight.”

She had to admit it was kind of scary being truly alone in her apartment. Jon wasn’t just at work, he was a 3 hour flight away, but Lucy joined her on the bed, and she settled in with her book just fine. She didn’t know what time Lucy started growling low in her throat but Sansa hadn’t texted her yet so it couldn’t have been them. She heard shuffling outside of her bedroom door and Lucy started barking in earnest. With her heart pounding in her chest, she reached for the bat and her phone and quickly moved to the other side of the dresser, her view to the door blocked.

When it opened she heard that voice that made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up, “Shh, lovely girl?” He whispered. Arya could barely hear him with all the blood rushing in her head. She slowly stood up, grateful that he did not notice her in the corner and she started swinging. She knew she made some connection. She heard him yell and saw him fall but it didn’t register in her mind that she was responsible for it happening. It was someone else doing it. Someone else’s arms were getting tired bringing the bat down on him. Someone else called the police with shaking hands. And someone else gathered Lucy up and waited in the hallway until they showed up.

“That’s my sister,” a familiar voice said and she looked up to see Sansa and Margery in front of her. She had a blanket wrapped around her shoulders but she didn’t know how it got there. Lucy’s head was resting in her lap, her hands were rhythmically stroking the dogs head, “Arya, are you okay?”  
The EMS took him out on a stretcher, she saw that he was handcuffed to the bed. “Did I kill him?” she asked and a nearby officer answered, “no, but he’ll be feeling that for a while,” she could only nod. Sansa took over, asking the police what was going to happen, if they could take Arya to their place now. Margery was on the phone, calling Jon. Arya didn’t want to interrupt his weekend but she was grateful for Margery, she needed Jon by her side.  
The police questioned her while the EMT looked her over. She was in shock, the EMT said, she knew that though. Sansa and Margery ushered her into a car and then into their apartment. She made straight for the spare bed and Lucy joined her.

When she opened her eyes next, the room was dark. She must have slept for the entire day, all the adrenaline from the night before completely wiped her out. Jon was looking down at her with a frown on his face.  
“I know—“ she sat up.  
“I’m so glad you’re safe, Ar.” He wrapped his arms around her and she buried her head in his neck. They stayed that way for a long time while she finally let herself feel everything that happened to her since she met Jaqen. She suppressed so much. Telling herself that she was strong and could handle him. She had been in way over her head, she saw that now. Jon rubbed her back as she cried into his shoulder. 

* * *

December

He pled guilty and was sentenced to 25 years. He held Aryas hand while Jaqen explained how he entered the building; through the fire escape of an empty apartment. Their apartment; he had some weird skills, Arya said. And what his plans were; Arya squeezed his hand so tightly when he got to that point. She didn’t need to be there, he kept telling her but she was adamant that she see him go away.

They moved again. They found an apartment near the Red Keep with windows on both sides that overlooked the river. And they adopted a dog. Jon saw how much Lucy kept her calm that weekend, so they went out the following one and adopted Nymeria the 2nd.

She was back to her normal schedule. And she was going to therapy again to mitigate her PTSD. She had nightmares every night the first month following the incident, so bad that she had to start taking something to get her through the night but she hated how it made her tired at work and quickly stopped taking them. Jon could tell she lived for her 24 hour rotations for that reason. Night floats were the worst for both of them. He hated that he couldn’t be home during the day to help her when she was sleeping. But that night, after he was sentenced, she slept soundly. It was like her mind just needed to know he would not be getting out anytime soon, to let her sleep.

They went away to Oldtown for Sam’s wedding. Sam and Gilly looked so happy and Sammy doubly so. Arya also looked like she was having a lot of fun, she spent a lot of time dancing with Sammy so Gilly and Sam could enjoy their reception. Towards the end of the night, Jon found Sam sitting by himself with a passed out Sammy in his lap, a giant smile plastered on his face as he watched Gilly, Arya and a few other girls dance to some crazy song. He passed Sam a glass of whiskey and sat down next to him.

“When is it going to be your turn?”  
Jon smiled ruefully and took a drink, “not for a while I think.”  
“Could have sworn you would have popped the question as soon as you two started dating.”  
“Yeah, well, life gets in the way sometimes.” He could feel Sam’s eyes on him, and he sighed. He should be happier; he could be happier. It was a wedding for Gods sake.  
“Whats wrong, Jon?”  
“I keep—“ he looked over at Arya, smiling with Gilly, “I keep waiting for this perfect moment to to tell her that I love her, but—with Jaqen and all that—there hasn’t been one. And she deserves to have something go right after this past year.”  
“That’s stupid,” Jon looked over at a laughing Sam, “there is no perfect moment, Jon. I told Gilly after a night working in the infectious diseases ward. I couldn’t even kiss her until I took a shower. Just tell her. I’m sure she’d be happy either way.”

Sam was right. Of course he was. Jon got into his own head sometimes and he didn’t know how to get out of it. Arya was good about getting him to not think so much. But she had enough on her plate, she didn’t need to get him out of his funk on top of everything else she was dealing with; and with that thought he was back to his sullen self.  
He still had the scowl on his face as they walked back to their hotel. “Whats wrong?” She draped her arm around his shoulders and leaned into him.  
“Nothing. Tired is all.”  
“You sure?” He nodded and they kept walking, “you’re lucky I love you and I find that pout of yours so cute, or we would have a problem.”  
He wasn’t sure he heard her right and stopped, “what did you say?”  
“I said you’re lucky I find that scowl so cute.”  
“Before that.”  
“I love you.”  
“You love me?”  
“Yeah, you love me too, right? Or what in the seven hells have we been doing?” Her smile was huge and he couldn’t help but smile back.  
“Of course, I love you.”  
She kissed him lightly on the lips and they kept walking, “good.”  
“That was the first time we said that to each other.”  
“We’ve been in love since we were kids, we don’t need to say it. I can feel it, you know.”  
“Yeah, I know.”

* * *

June

Her 2nd year was coming to an end. She had another week off before starting her 3rd and last. It was all getting much easier. She knew what she was doing. She was called doctor by her patients and that made her feel good, made her feel like she was really helping people. Her therapist kept reminding her that helping others was good and all but she also needed to take care of herself. Compartmentalization would only get her so far, she needed to learn how to take care of herself. It was work in progress but she was trying.

She surprised Jon with a trip back to Winterfell for the week they were both off. Bran graduated college the month before but Arya couldn’t make it up to see him walk. She had been missing Rickon and Robb. But Bran she had been missing fiercely. They used to be close, especially since she and Sansa weren’t; but now that Sansa was one of her best friends, she hadn’t confined in Bran like she used to. “Finally” was all Bran muttered under his breath when he saw the two of them holding hands and he held his hand out for Rickon, who promptly deposited a 20 dollar bill into it.  
“What was that?” Arya whispered in his ear when she noticed.  
“Took you two long enough. I was worried I was going to lose this bet to Rickon.” She rolled her eyes and pinched them both for placing a bet on her and Jon’s relationship.

Her old bedroom looked the same. Her mom put her and Jon in it, which was surprising. Never in a million years would she have thought that would happen. “Do you have gum? My mouth feels gross,” she asked when Jon popped into the bathroom she used to share with Sansa.  
Check my coat, or my bag,” he yelled back.  
She went to the coat hanging off the chair and reached into the pocket. Her hand stopped. She didn’t pull it out. She didn’t need to, she knew what that shape meant. He bought an engagement ring. For her. That asshole was planning on purposing.  
She went to his bag and found the gum.

It wasn’t that she didn’t want to get married. Truthfully, she never really thought about it. She knew she always wanted to be a doctor but the whole husband and family thing, she just never saw for herself. Maybe it was because Sansa, when they were younger, used to tell her that she was too ugly and too unladylike to love. She had something else to discuss with her therapist when she got home. She closed her eyes and laid on her bed. She pictured getting married to Jon and she didn’t hate the idea. She smiled wide. No, she didn’t hate it. In fact, she kind of loved the idea.  
Jon joined her on the bed, “what are you smiling about?”  
“Cat put us in the same room,” she lied.  
“I know, its crazy.”

Her mom went all out for their small party. Arya could tell she missed having a full house; she went out of her way to be extra nice to her mom.  
“Are you happy?” Her mom asked her as they gathered the supplies for s’mores. Once upon a time, she would have rolled her eyes and she and her mom would probably fight about it. Once upon a time, her mom would have been upset at her even thinking about dating Jon.  
“Yeah, I am. Why do you ask?”  
“Between Sansa and Joffrey and then you and that man, I only want for my children to be happy. So if you’re happy, then I’m happy,” Cat smiled and handed her the tray with s’mores supplies. “Keep it quiet out there,” she said and kissed Arya on the cheek, “good night.”  
  


There were plenty of chairs around the fire pit, but Arya sat on Jons lap. Rickon of course said something about it and she threw a marshmallow at him. She wrapped a blanket around her shoulders and started another marshmallow. She could do this, every day, for the rest of her life, she thought. Her and Jon, forever. Bran and Rickon were sharing a joint, not paying attention to the two of them.  
“Remember that New Years?” She said low.  
“The one where I was stupid?”  
“Oh, now we might be talking about two different New Years,” she laughed as he tickled her.  
“I shouldn’t have stopped kissing you. We could have been together for years now.”  
“You were always kind of clueless, Jon.”  
“Me? What about you?”  
“I was stupid, too. Now,” she shifted on his lap to better face him, “do you have something to give me?” He looked confused so she reached into his coat pocket and pulled on the box. His hand on hers stopped her from pulling it out all the way.  
“Not yet.” His kiss stops her from protesting further. If Jon says to wait, she can wait.

* * *

September

His case load was becoming untenable. He cursed himself for not being interested in corporate law or environmental. Anything where he would shoulder the burden with multiple lawyers, not just him trying to keep good and some not so good people out of the system. He had put the ring box in his sock drawer as soon as they were home from Winterfell, and he was so busy he forgot about finding the perfect time to propose. 

Arya was her same old busy. Her residency didn’t let up just because she was a third year. In fact it doubled since she was also in charge of a few interns and she was trying to figure out what to do once her 3rd year was done. All she knew she needed to do was pass the Boards; but Jon kept reminding her she had it in the bag.  
“I could do a fellowship,” she was looking at her laptop while they ate dinner.  
“But?”  
“I don’t know,” she started biting her lower lip and Jon pushed her laptop closed on her, he didn’t want her stressing out about something she had the rest of the year to figure out, “I wasn’t done—“  
“For dinner, at least?”  
“Fine,” she pouted and stuck a forkful of salad in her mouth, “happy” she muffled.  
“Very.”

They didn’t fight often which surprised Jon. She was stubborn to a fault but not when it came to him. The one thing they did fight over was when Jon forced her to take a break.  
“Jon Snow, you give my laptop back right now,” she yelled at him one night when he took it away, “I need to finish—“  
“It’s 11pm, Arya, what work could you possibly have.”  
“Stuff, now give it back!”  
“Ar“  
“Jon—“  
She was exhausted he could tell, “you promised.”  
“I’ll finish that one email and then I’ll put it away and then we’ll have the entire weekend, I just need to write something for the intern on duty this weekend.”  
He handed her back the laptop, “don’t stay up too late,” and he went to bed.

The following morning, they both wake up at 7am. Jon hates his internal clock on the days when he desperately wants to sleep in. Her hair is all he can see of her, but he feels for her waist and pulls her closer to himself. “Morning.”  
“Morning,” Nymeria whines at the foot of the bed and he sighs, “I’ll take her out.”  
They were being lazy that Saturday. She got coffee ready while he walked Nymeria and when they were both fed and showered, it was 1pm. They walk Nymeria down to the park and let her run off leash.  
“Thanks,” he says as they walk back home, one hand on Nymeria’s leash and the other holding Aryas hand.  
“I don’t know what I did, but you’re welcome,” she smiles up at him and he kisses her hand.  
“For not working this weekend,”  
“Oh that, well, I promised didn’t I?”  
“That you did.”

Later when they begin cooking dinner, Jon looks over at her. Her hair piled messily on top of her head, face stuck in a cookbook and she was worrying her lip again. “What are herbs du Lys, and do we have any?” She looks up at him, confused at his look, “what? Am I supposed to know what they are?”  
He drops down to one knee and she yells, “No—you are not doing this in the kitchen—“  
“Arya, shut up—“  
“No—“  
“Will you—“  
He couldn’t get the rest out because she had jumped on him and they tumbled to the floor, Nymeria barking at the two of them. “I didn’t finish—“ he said in between her kisses.  
“I don’t care.”  
“So is that a—“  
“Of course it’s a yes, stupid.” She kissed him again and they got off the floor. He put the ring on her finger, she admired it for a second before punching his arm.  
“Ow—what was that for?” He rubbed the spot, frowning.  
“For making me wait so long.”  
“I always take my time when it comes to you.”  
“Well don’t.”


End file.
